Anno 117's Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Impressive First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know it's possible to experience Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? If that’s your reaction, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction when I discovered this secret option. Excuse me while briefly leave overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a capable deputy, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride through Ancient Rome.
Unlocking the First-Person Feature
As a city-building game, Anno 117: Pax Romana usually operates from a bird's-eye view. However, if you enter a secret combination — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you can explore your domain as a common citizen. Given a comparable hidden feature was part of the previous Anno title, I was eager to experience it in Ubisoft's newest game, yet I had doubts it would work before I discovered myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this feature is prone to glitches now and then).
Discovering the Ancient Streets
Upon freeing myself, I walked the bustling streets of my city and explored shops, taverns, floral patches, and shellfish gatherers — the experience was splendid to observe the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I detected numerous fine points that would escape notice from above: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, fowl roaming freely, people relaxing on their verandas… Even just observing the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode aside from meandering through streets. I became extraordinarily excited when I found out that not only could I look upon crop lands, but also step into them. And even though I thought structures would be inaccessible, I managed to access mud extraction sites, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators planned for that functionality), yet it's completely feasible stroll around a barley farm, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and take a peek inside any small shack when there's no doorway obstructing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Even though I expected to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and periodic inhabitants sitting inside seating rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The intricately designed surfaces (particularly rock faces) are unexpectedly excellent in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe specific hair details, but you will see wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, eye details, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and stars shining in the distance, is especially atmospheric, and also a lot less scary versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike nightmarish entities now.
Experimentation and Customization
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective has no guided tutorial, I chose to test various actions, and immediately located the options to jump, sprint, and zoom in or out — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I then experimented with some number buttons and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you activate the engage command, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I attempted, naturally).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, because they’re way too funny. Moments after I entered first-person mode, I heard a parent advising their offspring that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A friendly native Celtic person then proceeded to praise my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female opted to menace me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just when I thought I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I clicked on a wagon and was promptly seated on the box. Oxen, donkeys, even people-powered transports; you can control each one as desired. The donkey cart, in particular, is pretty fast, although you shouldn't expect any GTA-like shenanigans — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Combat Limitations
The single feature that frustrated me regarding the first-person view was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I approached opposing forces during active combat and tried to harm them, only to be ignored completely. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, though it might have been amazing to actually hit something with my burning arrows.
